Friday, July 27, 2007

Bomb Squad Instrumentals/B-sides - DC special!

It's too bad the rest of our FM radio in the DC area blows. One dude named Bobby Hill has been doing these sick 3-hour Bomb Squad tribute shows every Christmas Eve for many years. It's a show called "The Other Side" and my brother & I caught it for the first time around 1990 on WPFW 89.3fm, a jazz station here in DC. That first show I heard blew me away - and although I'd been into PE before that, it was the show that sparked my obsession with Bomb Squad production on a musical level. Their shit is crazy.

So even with all the other parts of the world with dope pirate FMs or just cool regular FM stations, I don't think anywhere else boasts an all-Bomb Squad instrumental radio special! Bobby Hill is a great dude for putting such a crazy concept in action, and keeping it in action for so many years. Thanks, dude.

Here is this past years' special - I had correspondence with Bobby via email before the show even aired, and he pulled out some great stuff for 2006/2007! If you are a lover of dope beats or any shade of PE enthusiast, you will love this shit. If you're not, you should still love it if you're even on my page to begin with. I stayed home like a LOSER to record the show this past New Years Eve :\ But I'm glad I did

The Other...side, w/Bobby HillDate 12:00AM-3:00PMDecember 31, 2006PlayList “It’s Not What You’ve Heard....It’s What You’ve Been Hearing”

BoBBy HiLL, Producer/Host

Program Playlist 12/31/2006

“BRING THE NOISE: 18th Annual Public Enemy/Bomb Squad Instrumentals Special

Public Enemy originally grew out of the friendship of James ‘Hank’ Boxley (aka Bomb Squad producer Hank Shocklee) and Richard Griffin (aka Minister of Information Professor Griff), who were Long Island teenage friends. The two formed the Spectrum City Sound System, and were joined by area MC Carlton Riddenhour (aka Chuck D.) and his friends Willie Drayton (aka Flavor Flav) and DJ Norman Rogers (aka Terminator X). In the early 80’s, the Spectrum City Sound System hosted the Super Spectrum Mix Show on NY’s Adelphi University’s campus radio station. A 1984 live broadcast, then titled ‘I’m Your Public Enemy #1’, eventually became Spectrum’s new name and their first single, re-titled ‘Public Enemy #1’. During the hip hop explosion of the mid-80’s, Public Enemy signed with Rick Rubin’s Def Jam label, which in 1987 released their debut recording entitled ‘Yo! Bum Rush the Show’. With the release of their next two recordings, 1988’s “It Takes A Nation of Millions To Hold Us Back’ and 1990’s “Fear of A Black a Planet’, PE succeeded in redefining the hip hop sound by elevating sampling – the melding of snippets of pre-recorded sound and music – into a new art form, creating a music that was uniquely arresting in both it’s originality and conviction...sonic collages of urban beats and sociopolitical ideas. Bomb Squad Production Members: Hank and Keith Shocklee, Eric ‘Vietnam’ Sadler, Carl Ryder, Bill Stephney, Gary ‘G’ Wiz, Cerwin ‘C-Dawg’ Depper, Stewart Robertz, and JBL.

“Power to the people and the beats”(Chuck D.)

Program features writer/musician/professor Thomas Stanley’s reading of ‘Inside the Sanctuary of Shockwave: The Bomb Squad --Excerpts from ‘More Brilliant Than the Sun: Adventures in Sonic Fiction’, by Kodwo Eshun

I'm a massive fan of library music which you've done admirably but also hip-hop, soundtracks, funk, ambient, downtempo, etc.

Good music is good music and it's cool to have a wide range to taste from. Of course I really do hold that if people like these posts, BUY the albums or at least buy other albums by the same artists. I'm a musician trying to make a living myself and with the shift in climate as to how music is consumed, it's still vital that people support the artists they love.

thanks - not sure whats next though. Will have to dig around and see what pops up!

and I try to include artist and label info links for those who want to do their own research. Clearly supporting the artists you believe in and whose music you enjoy is the ultimate goal; and I'm sure those artists appreciate the free promotion blogs and forums give them! except metallica maybe. but they're kinda lame now anyways.